Is it possible my employer is blocking WiFi?

[blorgon]

I've searched online for an answer to this but have yet to find one. I'm wondering if it's possible for my employer to block a free WiFi signal within the confines of our offices. There is free WiFi available for the entire building, which I used to be able to connect to, though only in certain areas on the floor where my office is located. But for a while now, I get a "scanning, connecting, obtaining up address, disconnected" constant loop whenever I try to connect to the wifi anywhere on the floor.
I thought this might be an EVO LTE problem, and hoped the jellybean update would fix it, but there's been no change. I can still connect to the free WiFi on other floors of the building, so it's possible the problem is signal strength, but when it tries to connect on my floor, it does say that signal stenghth is excellent, but won't connect.
So I'm just wondering if my employer is blocking the signal somehow, either for productivity reasons or security. I work in the financial industry, and WiFi isn't used for our office network because it isn't secure enough. Although, I don't see how free WiFi that isn't connected to our network would be a security issue, but I'm just spitballing.

 

[PsYcHoNeWb]

This is possible but my guess is if they are blocking it you wouldn't even see the WiFi network at all. The fact that it is only an issue on your floor is a little odd but it seems like its the only explanation. My first guess would be because of security issue. Its not that it isn't safe, its because your company can't ensure its safe since they don't "own" it. Comes down to the companies liability. God forbid something gets intercepted on that free WiFi, the company would be at fault even though it was a free WiFi and they had no ownership or control over it.

 

[Mikey47]

It could also be a problem with the router that you are attempting to connect to on your floor. Are the other floors part of your company too?

 

[bigtank]

I think the issue is that you could conceivably connect to this WIFI network and xfer sensitive info w/o the same security implementations that exist on your local network

 

[Mikey47]

There are two issues here: 1) the reason why they might not want you to connect and 2) technical ability to block you from connecting.

For "1" there are lots of reasons why they might not want you to connect, but none of them hold water. Whatever you could do from your floor with your phone (take pics, video, record sound, etc) you still could do and store it in your phone and transmit when not in your floor.

For "2", I could see a company asking the building to disable the free wifi on your floor, but see no technical way of them being able to block connections (unless your EVO is company owned and they have installed software on it to block that SSID.

 

[riccowboy]

I had this problem with my home network. My wifes SGIII also did the same thing on my home network. I reset my router and it fixed our problem. So it could be a problem on that floor. Do you know if anyone else on the floor has the same problem?

 

[bigtank]

this can be easily accomplished by using dampners and even certain window films that block out external signals. Easiest way is settings within the WAP itself

 

[Mikey47]

this can be easily accomplished by using dampners and even certain window films that block out external signals. Easiest way is settings within the WAP itself

Agree, but he says he can see it but not connect. If they were doing something like that he wouldn't even be able to see it. If you are cutting people off from connecting, why even let them see it?

 

[crxssi]

Agree, but he says he can see it but not connect. If they were doing something like that he wouldn't even be able to see it. If you are cutting people off from connecting, why even let them see it?

Yes. There are any number of ways to do that. Including using only approved MAC addresses, or not allowing DHCP except for certain devices. Granted, this would be a strange thing to do with an open WiFi (IE- no encryption). I think it is more probable that there is something wrong with the nearest access point to him.

This is easily resolved with MORE DATA- like, can a tablet connect to it? Can his friend's phone or device?

 

[Cattails_r_Edible]

They can block WiFi pretty easily!

Mosquitoes Refuse To Bite Me

 

[wess580]

I've searched online for an answer to this but have yet to find one. I'm wondering if it's possible for my employer to block a free WiFi signal within the confines of our offices. There is free WiFi available for the entire building, which I used to be able to connect to, though only in certain areas on the floor where my office is located. But for a while now, I get a "scanning, connecting, obtaining up address, disconnected" constant loop whenever I try to connect to the wifi anywhere on the floor.
I thought this might be an EVO LTE problem, and hoped the jellybean update would fix it, but there's been no change. I can still connect to the free WiFi on other floors of the building, so it's possible the problem is signal strength, but when it tries to connect on my floor, it does say that signal stenghth is excellent, but won't connect.
So I'm just wondering if my employer is blocking the signal somehow, either for productivity reasons or security. I work in the financial industry, and WiFi isn't used for our office network because it isn't secure enough. Although, I don't see how free WiFi that isn't connected to our network would be a security issue, but I'm just spitballing.

I had this same issue ...the fix is just unplug the router for 10 sec and the problem would fix its self

Sent from my EVO using Android Central Forums

 

[kurosenpai]

Blocking a Wifi network is pretty easy. I think they blocked your mac address that's wh6 you can't connect to it although its visible for you. That s also means that they don't 100% trust you or they worried that someone might intercept the network. Maybe because as you said you are from the finance department, maybe your works are confidential and lots of sensitive informations. And if they were blocking your mac address, someone else might not be blocked. Try using other phone or laptop or your other friends to make sure of it.

Sent from my GT-N7000 using Tapatalk 2